


Quiet

by Rosie2009



Series: Red Dead Redemption Fanfiction [3]
Category: Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-17 00:43:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28965552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rosie2009/pseuds/Rosie2009
Summary: Tilly and Arthur share a quiet moment in the wake of Sean's death.
Relationships: Tilly Jackson/Arthur Morgan
Series: Red Dead Redemption Fanfiction [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1409836
Kudos: 3





	Quiet

It was one of the rare moments that there was a lull in the ordinary hubbub around camp. Not a single sound could be heard outside of the low croaking of frogs near the lake, crickets in the grass, and the occasional snorting of the horses in the night. Of course, the sudden quiet was rather understandable given the sorrowful circumstances.

Sean was gone. That irritating, infuriating, nevertheless lovable figure of constant loud-mouthed bluster was gone, and with it, the happiness was sucked dry from the group.

Spirits were low in camp, there was no doubt, and everyone was either silently staring at a campfire with a bottle in their hand, solemnly taking up guard duty, or trying to find peace in slumber.

Given this lack of good company and general lethargy, a certain young woman was left wandering aimlessly about, unable to sleep and searching for a sort of comfort that she could not find.

However, she knew where her heartstrings were being tugged toward. So, naturally, her feet followed suit. She headed past the giant tree in the middle of camp, casting her glance to the side as she took in the sight of Karen drinking her way to the bottom of the liquor bottle, the hot tears streaming down her face as she silently collapsed into her woes.

The young woman’s heart reached out to her, but she thought it best to leave the older woman alone. For she knew how Karen often was when emotional and drunk.

She moved around the table that Sadie so often sat at, eating her soup begrudgingly in the company of Pearson. At this moment, it was as empty as the hearts around the camp.

Before long, she soon found her way to the very place that she had wanted to be the entire time since this horrendous disaster had occurred.

Arthur’s tent.

She slowly approached, not making a single sound. She could see his form illuminated softly in the light of the lamp nearby. She could easily discern that he was drawing in his journal—the pencil strokes were too extended to be any other sort of creation. His hat was low over his head and his shoulders slumped with the weight of the world. But despite the hopelessness of his demeanor, he was as beautiful as she had ever seen him.

The entire scene was set up in a manner that made her feel almost to be an intrusion. It was so intimate and so personal of a moment that she felt she did not belong. After all, if he wanted company, he would have surely headed over to one of the nearby campfires.

She had almost completely dissuaded herself of this idea when he suddenly spoke up, slightly startling her.

“Tilly,” his low gravelly voice resounded oddly in the quiet surrounding them. Yet Tilly’s heart skipped a beat all the same at the very sound of it. After a moment, she just sighed nearly soundlessly, lowering her head and looking up at him through her lashes shyly as she silently requested permission to enter.

Never uttering a single word, Arthur moved to the side, offering her a spot next to him on his cot. She slowly stepped forward, taking a seat next to him. For several minutes, she tried to avoid looking at his journal, attempting to avoid invading his privacy despite the fact that she was very openly and easily invading his space as she leaned into him shamelessly. While she could not help her gravitation toward him, she thought that she would at least try to behave somewhat and offer him at least a bit of comfort.

However, he left the journal lowered as he worked, and soon enough, her eyes were inevitably drawn to his illustration on the page.

Her heart was simultaneously swelling and being ripped out of her chest as she spotted the unmistakable face of Sean MacGuire, smirking at the viewer with that typical cocky arrogance that he sported.

Arthur’s giant, burly hands embraced the pencil with the gentlest yet firmest of touches, and he carefully went over the eyebrows, jotting small hairs facing outward from the sketch’s nose. Tilly took in the sight of that great hand, and she found herself more than a little flustered at the thoughts that emerged.

How would that hand feel holding her own? What if it touched her face? Or tugged at her waist so that she was flush against him?

Despite the fact that her mind should not have been wandering to such places, she could not exactly stop herself from following that thought and enjoying the idea of it.

But after a moment, Arthur’s skilled grip loosened around the pencil, and Tilly shifted her gaze upward to look at his face.

It hurt her to see the sight that she beheld. His eyes were glazy and she could see that sheen of tears in them that refused to escape. She had already allowed her tears to freely shed themselves of her, and she could not imagine what was keeping his own held back.

Of course, Tilly supposed that it was likely the fact that Arthur was the strongest person she had ever known.

However, as he stared blankly at the page, Tilly lightly bit her bottom lip, debating on whether she should say something and interrupt this silence surrounding them.

But before she could put much thought into this, he placed his pencil in the center of the book and shut it inside with the sketch, slowly shutting the book with one hand.

Tilly swallowed hard, feeling the pain and loss resonating inside of him. Tilly, once again risking a glance at his face, could easily see the emotion written in his face.

So she quickly, almost against her better judgement, leaned her head on his shoulder, placing one hand on his arm and allowing her other arm to wrap around his as she tried to make him feel at least a little better.

Tilly could feel Arthur stiffen slightly with surprise, and she almost let go of him at that moment, but she abandoned that notion entirely as he brought his hand up to her much smaller one and enveloped it warmly. She felt her heart fluttering in her chest and her stomach twisting as he leaned his head against hers, sighing deeply and tiredly.

And there together they sat, reveling in the woes of the events of recent times and the sadness of losing a truly loved friend.

But they had each other. There in the quiet of the night.


End file.
